Blizzcon 2014 Recap

Blizzcon 2014 Recap
No big WoW news this year, but lots of interesting news for other games!

Official Websites

Opening Ceremony
  • Overwatch confirmed as new IP, playable at Blizzcon and "sooner than you think". Team shooter set in the future on earth. 12 Heroes now, many more coming in the future.
  • New Hearthstone expansion - Goblins and Gnomes
  • Heroes of the Storm closed beta begins January 13, 2015
  • SC2: Legacy of the Void was announced, along with Archon mode, Allied Commanders mode, automated tournaments, and more.
  • The spacegoat pet will be sold starting in December to support the Red Cross's Ebola relief efforts.

World of Warcraft
  • Warcraft Movie Presentation
    • People actually at Blizzcon saw a short teaser trailer, but the video won't be released online.
    • The movie will follow heroes on both factions, "50% Alliance, 50% Horde".
    • The visual effects are very realistic. Motion capture was used, the team worked with ILM to make it feel as much like live action as possible.
    • Effects are Avatar and Lord of the Rings at the same time.
    • Very detailed sets were built, such as part of Stormwind's main street.
    • A partial list of the cast was released.
  • World of Warcraft - Items, Class Changes, and More
    • A recap of Warlords changes.
  • Warlords of Draenor Cinematic Intro Panel
    • Blizzard has a new group called The Forge that will be focused on telling stories in the Blizzard universe.
    • In one cinematic idea, Chromie could have a vision of what is happening in Draenor as a flashback.
    • The team uses live video references to create the cinematic shots.
    • The silhouette of the Warlords was mostly done by using existing assets, as the models of the Warlords models weren't done.
    • Sin City was the original art style reference for Lords of War.
  • World of Warcraft Q + A Panel - (Notes have been cleaned up from the live recap)
    • Farahlon may or may not make it into a content patch. The team isn't sure yet, which is why it was removed from the map. At one point they considered using it as a separate area for boosted players, but Tanaan Jungle for everyone felt like the better choice.
    • The team can make one click milling and prospecting if it is something players want.
    • Social content like AQ gates opening is great, but it crashed the servers. One person being a hero and representing the server is something cool that can be done.
    • New armor designs and silhouettes is something the team is talking about. They are drawing it up and coming with ideas. No solid release date yet.
  • World of Warcraft: Looking for Group Documentary
    • If you are interested in WoW, you should watch this. A recap won't do it justice.

Overwatch
  • Overwatch Unveiled
    • Chris Metzen is only doing one voice in this game.
    • The game will be accessible and have options other than putting a crosshair over someone.
    • You should die less frequently than in current modern military shooters.
    • Initially only on PC.
    • No pricing model yet.
  • Overwatch Press Kit
    Overwatch - Origins
    • Overwatch uses a new engine with new technology.
    • Warcraft started out very simple and then added in new characters, story, and art over time. Overwatch is starting from the same place, a simple beginning and lots of potential for the future in terms of story and characters.
    • The team wanted Tracer to be the centerpiece hero, as everyone on the team loved her.
    • No real answer to if there will be collectable hats.
    • The game has some similarities to TF2, but it is still a very different game. TF2 has a limited number of roles with some more customization through weapon choices. Overwatch also has some more mobility, with some heroes that can fly or use grapple hooks. Overwatch is more about hero abilities than it is about putting a crosshair over the other heroes.

Hearthstone

Heroes of the Storm
  • Heroes of the Storm Overview
    • Draft mode is coming, with no duplicate heroes and no bans.
    • Ranked play is coming with two leagues: Hero league (any size group queue) and Team league (fixed size teams only). There are seasons, points, and a separate skill rank.
    • Leavers - If you leave games too often, you will only be matched with other people that leave games too often. You can undo this by not leaving games.
  • Sound of the Nexus
    • Back in Warcraft III, the average lines a unit spoke was just 20. For Heroes, its 300!
    • Chain Lightning was created with fireworks, and a tape measure.
  • Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive
    • There should be a core, awesome mechanic for each battleground. Changes the flow of gameplay.
    • Sky Temple takes place in a brand new universe, never before seen in another Blizzard game.
    • Tomb of the Spider Queen takes place in the save universe as sky temple. Is an interior battleground, the first one! It's spooky.
  • Heroes Developer Interview
    • Lost Vikings are the first Insane Difficulty hero.
    • Bounties, part of the kill streak system, are still on the list of things to do.
    • No current plans for any story mode stuff like Starcraft campaigns.
    • The Heroes development team is Team 1, the same team which creates Starcraft II. They're currently working on Legacy of the Void and Heroes at the same time.
    • Both games have dedicated content designers, and artists, but share some systems people. People move around a bunch, but there's normally 100 people working on Heroes.

Diablo III
  • Diablo III - What's Next
    • Adventure Mode changes, New Goblins, Ancient Items, New Zone, New Monsters, and more!
  • Evolving Reaper of Souls
    • A retrospective view on the evolution of Diablo III at release to what it is now.
    • A first look at new and changed Legendary and Set items from future patches.
    • The Legendary Workshop where a Legendary item was designed live on stage.
    • A short segment of community questions.


BlizzCon Costume Contest Winner
If you were watching the amazing costumes on the stream last night, you may have noticed that the winner never appeared during the contest. GeekyRed shared a picture of the complete costume that won.



Overwatch Cosplay
Even though Overwatch was a secret, Blizzard had some costumes ready ahead of time and took a fun 360 degree picture with them.



Coming Soon: Adopt a Pet for Charity
A new pet to support Ebola relief efforts is coming next month.



Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Introducing the next World of Warcraft companion up soon for adoption in the Battle.net Shop: Argi! This impossibly cute little creature will jump into your heart and nibble at your Blue Woolen Socks. She’s ready to help guide you through the savage lands of Draenor, climbing, swimming, and running wherever you go. Argi will be ready for a home this December, right in time for Winter Veil—just don’t get too upset if she chomps through the wrapping paper.

For every Argi pet purchased between December 3 and December 31, 100% of the adoption fee ($10 in the U.S.; pricing varies by region) will be donated in support of the American Red Cross to assist in Ebola relief efforts, helping enable the Red Cross to provide assistance to those in need.

The American Red Cross name and emblem are used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, opinion, or political position. For more information about the American Red Cross, visit www.redcross.org
This article was originally published in forum thread: Blizzcon 2014 Recap started by chaud View original post
Published on 2014-11-09 10:50 AM
90 Comments
Comments 89 Comments
  1. adaw31's Avatar
    Welp, First I guess
  1. JustaWarlock's Avatar
    Worst most uninspiring Blizzcon ever, and a slap in the face for Virtual ticket holders.
  1. Smeller's Avatar
    All in all it's good I didn't purchase the virtual ticket this year. The Warcraft movie incident is something Blizz just fucked up bad. This could cost them many ppl next Blizzcon who purchased the VT.
  1. mmoc2031ce955d's Avatar
    It was not blizzards fault that Legendary didnt let them broadcast the teaser lol...
  1. Xivilai's Avatar
    Even if not Blizz's fault, they didn't give really much incentive to get the VT. This Blizzcon was such a HUGE letdown. Only decent news was Overwatch, and even then, who knows how successful, or if it will even be a decent game. Le sigh...
  1. MoanaLisa's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xivilai View Post
    Even if not Blizz's fault, they didn't give really much incentive to get the VT. This Blizzcon was such a HUGE letdown. Only decent news was Overwatch, and even then, who knows how successful, or if it will even be a decent game. Le sigh...
    I'm curious how anyone knows, when any game company releases a brand new game in a brand new IP, how successful it will be or if it will be a decent game. Or is this strictly a Blizzard thing? Inquiring minds. My guess is that it will be quite successful. The rest depends on how you define 'decent game'.
  1. ProfessorTjc's Avatar
    The VT was totally worth it imo. I enjoyed watching everything (except for the SC2 and Hearthstone tournaments because I don't care about them).
  1. koyz's Avatar
    "will be donated in support of the American Red Cross to assist in Ebola relief efforts"
    Trying to popularize yourself withthe help og the baseless fearmongering that´s happening over there, eh?
  1. Rastlin's Avatar
    This news completly missed the fact, that finaly Legacy of the Void was announced...
  1. mmoc610696607c's Avatar
    Lucky me that i didnt buy a Virtual Ticket...
    Tournaments were available on official free streams anyway, didnt know this before blizzcon. For everything else there was enough free coverage on the internet, without stream i didnt have to watch the nerds scream all the time when metzen says something.
    And there werent that much real news... ok Hearthstone is Blizzards license to print money so we get new cards and Xpacs every 6 Months because this way people spend even more money on it. Overwatch is there to get a foot into FPS-Genre, i personally am quite disappointed as i dont either like Pixar graphics nor FPS. SC2 gets a new Xpac but not really a lot of love. Nothing about WoW (because WoD will be out next week).
  1. Shiroh's Avatar
    That documentary was awesome.
  1. Nibu's Avatar
    People bickering over how "bad this Blizzcon was"... really? I thought it was well worth the money.

    If people had honestly expected to see movie teasers, wow expansions or even a lot of WoW news with WoD coming in 4 days they were out of their minds.

    We got three new game announcements, more tourneys than ever, an amazing group performing their legendary music and all the usual stuff. How was this any less than what we usually get?

    Poeple seem to forget that it is BLIZZcon, not WOWcon.

    My two cents. I enjoyed it. Looking forward to thursday!
  1. mmoc024535e5c7's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Papir View Post
    It was not blizzards fault that Legendary didnt let them broadcast the teaser lol...
    Warcraft is Blizzard's property not Legendary's .
  1. Stacie's Avatar
    By far the worst blizzcon ever the Q&A was pointless the class changes even more pointless as thats live... 20 year / 10 year and this shit. So glad i watched a free stream (what worked flawless may i add just like every year!)

    Feel sorry for those who payed for that crap they should be able to get money back or something. Blizzard are charging you to watch there long advert.
  1. Terrorwave's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by joram View Post
    Worst most uninspiring Blizzcon ever, and a slap in the face for Virtual ticket holders.
    speak for yourself, I enjoyed it. Enjoyed the panels i watched.
  1. mmoc238286e0c1's Avatar
    As a virtual ticket holder, Blizzcon was a complete let down, mostly boring recycled info. As for Outcast, what a way to reward your players who have stuck with you for 20 years, and 10 years on wow, to announce a new ip on the anniversary of your money maker, one that will just go on the slush pile of shooters. Warcraft 4 is what your fans/paying customers want, it would out sell diablo, but no, you have to pander to Metzen. I hope Outcast will be a success for you as a blizzard fan, but I see it being a fad where people will try it and move on.
    Blizzard don't just drop the ball, they lost it. As for the film debacle, blizzard should have not screened anything, that was within their power. Blizzcon was a huge opportunity wasted. No matter what, I won't be buying another VT again.
  1. mmoc1c0b124cfa's Avatar
    I seriously expected them to talk about patches 6.1/7.0 and what's ahead. So kind of disappointed wow wise. On the other hand we'll all be very busy in a week and probably next year's blizzcon will be more WoW centric again.
  1. hunteromg's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Wattmate View Post
    By far the worst blizzcon ever the Q&A was pointless the class changes even more pointless as thats live... 20 year / 10 year and this shit. So glad i watched a free stream (what worked flawless may i add just like every year!)

    Feel sorry for those who payed for that crap they should be able to get money back or something. Blizzard are charging you to watch there long advert.
    care to explain how would you watch "free" stream if the guy streaming would not pay for it? its promotion of theirs product what did you expect to be it? and its blizzcon and as such it cannot be focused on only one blizzard game. and what did you expect about wow? xpac is due in few days
  1. Suwide's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by joram View Post
    Worst most uninspiring Blizzcon ever, and a slap in the face for Virtual ticket holders.
    Hmm, the most people i know buying it (including me) is mainly for the Virtual Goodies... there was never any other real insensitive any year since all announcements/trailers where released withing short time on any news page including mmo-champ.
  1. Stacie's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by hunteromg View Post
    care to explain how would you watch "free" stream if the guy streaming would not pay for it? its promotion of theirs product what did you expect to be it? and its blizzcon and as such it cannot be focused on only one blizzard game. and what did you expect about wow? xpac is due in few days
    Well the stream to me is free, nothing has came from my own pocket. Willing to bet the guy didn't even pay with his cash prob some stolen account info or card to pay.

    Just yeah its junk i can't see how they can charge you for it. Just slap a few adverts on screen every 20mins or something and make it free. Made me laugh they even tried to sell rubbish during a paid stream and pulled in adverts from other companies. Pure greed that is.

    Guess some people wanted just the pet so thats fair enough i guess but for those who don't want some rubbish pet it is a slap in the face if a loyal customer.

    Been playing a long time with never a drop in my sub and still they wish to charge people like me to watch them advertise there next game to me.
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